Albatros Dance and All Three Boobies

      On our previous cruise in the Galapagos, we had spent 8 days in the western half of the archipelago.  For this time around, we opted for an eastern cruise.  We had successfully seen penguins last time, along with all the usual critters.  So now it was time to see if we could locate all three types of boobies, and maybe even run across an albatross.

     Sure enough, on a misty morning at Espanola Island, we came around a corner on a trail to find two adult albatros engaged in their famous mating ritual.  They would bob up and down as if doing calisthenics… then open their bills wide as if to demonstrate the strength of their dental plan… then clap their bills closed and start a bit of a sword-fight with their beaks.  Then they’d pause and look at each other as if to say “are we being for real right now, or are we just cartoons of ourselves?” This went on for several minutes, all while their baby sat a few feet away with the look of horror a teenager might have when they first put two and two together to understand how they arrived in the world.

     Later in the trip, we did manage to see all three types of boobies - red-footed boobies, blue-footed boobies and Nazca boobies - on the same island.  We had seen one type here, another type there, and a third type elsewhere… but finally seeing them all in the same place allowed the connections in my brain to finally understand the differences…. for a while.  I think I’ve lost it again by now.

     I’ve now visited most of the main islands in the Galapagos, with the one big exception being Genovesa.  So I’ve been on “western” islands, “southern” islands, “eastern” islands and “central” islands.  I truly believe there is not a “best” itinerary.  There are Galapagos itineraries… and they are all amazing.